Abortion butcher killed in church

I don’t condone the following event. However I will say, I guess we can say this man will not be murdering little babies anymore, huh? His death was still much more merciful than the victims he butchered over the years. All I can say at this point is; I hope he got right with his Maker sometime before the fatal bullet hit him.

Dr. George Tiller, one of the nation’s few providers of late-term abortions despite decades of protests and attacks, was shot and killed Sunday in a church where he was serving as an usher.

The gunman fled, but a 51-year-old suspect was detained some 170 miles away in suburban Kansas City three hours after the shooting, Wichita Deputy Police Chief Tom Stolz said.

Although Stolz refused to release the man’s name, Johnson County sheriff’s spokesman Tom Erickson identified the detained man as Scott Roeder. He has not been charged in the slaying and was expected to be taken to Wichita for questioning.

There was no immediate word of the motive Tiller’s assailant. But the doctor’s violent death was the latest in a string of shootings and bombings over two decades directed against abortion clinics, doctors and staff.

Long a focus of national anti-abortion groups, including a summer-long protest in 1991, Tiller was shot in the foyer of Reformation Lutheran Church, Stolz said. Tiller’s attorney, Dan Monnat, said Tiller’s wife, Jeanne, was in the choir at the time.

The slaying of the 67-year-old doctor is “an unspeakable tragedy,” his widow, four children and 10 grandchildren said in statement. “This is particularly heart-wrenching because George was shot down in his house of worship, a place of peace.”

RedeemedHippie>>>[The unspeakable tragedy are the thousands of babies this man has murdered over the years. IF there is to be any heart wrenching, let it be for the babies he has murdered.]

The family said its loss “is also a loss for the city of Wichita and women across America. George dedicated his life to providing women with high-quality health care despite frequent threats and violence.”

Stolz said all indications were that the gunman acted alone, although authorities were investigating whether he had any connection to anti-abortion groups.

Tiller’s Women’s Health Care Services clinic is one of just three in the nation where abortions are performed after the 21st week of pregnancy. The clinic was heavily fortified and Tiller often traveled with a bodyguard, but Stolz said there was no indication of security at the church Sunday.

Anti-abortion groups denounced the shooting and stressed that they support only nonviolent protest. The movement’s leaders fear the killing could create a backlash just as they are scrutinizing U.S. Supreme Court nomineeSonia Sotomayor, whose views on abortion rights are not publicly known.

“We are shocked at this morning’s disturbing news that Mr. Tiller was gunned down,” Troy Newman, Operation Rescue‘s president, said in a statement. “Operation Rescue has worked for years through peaceful, legal means, and through the proper channels to see him brought to justice. We denounce vigilantism and the cowardly act that took place this morning.”

President Barack Obama said he was “shocked and outraged” by the murder.

RedeemedHippie>>>[Too bad he can’t be shocked and outraged over the holocaust of thousands of innocent babies!]

“However profound our differences as Americans over difficult issues such as abortion, they cannot be resolved by heinous acts of violence,” he said.

RedeemedHippie>>>[The hypocrisy of this man amazes me. If abortion is not heinous acts of violence, I don’t know what is.]

At Tiller’s church, Adam Watkins, 20, said he was sitting in the middle of the congregation when he heard a small pop at the start of the service.

“We just thought a child had come in with a balloon and it had popped, had gone up and hit the ceiling and popped,” Watkins said.

Another usher came in and told the congregation to remain seated, then escorted Tiller’s wife out. “When she got to the back doors, we heard her scream, and so we knew something bad had happened,” Watkins said.

He said the service continued even after an associate pastor announced that Tiller had been injured. “We were just really shocked,” he said. “We were kind of dumbfounded. We couldn’t really believe it had happened.”

Tiller had in the past endured threats and violence. A protester shot Tiller in both arms in 1993, and his clinic was bombed in 1985. More recently, Monnat said Tiller had asked federal prosecutors to step up investigations of vandalism and other threats against the clinic out of fear that the incidents were increasing and that Tiller’s safety was in jeopardy. Stolz, however, said police knew of no threats connected to the shooting.

In early May, Tiller had asked the FBI to investigate vandalism at his clinic, including cut wires to surveillance cameras and damage to the roof that sent rainwater pouring into the building.

In 1991, the Summer of Mercy protests organized by Operation Rescue drew thousands of anti-abortion activists to this city for demonstrations marked by civil disobedience and mass arrests.

Tiller began providing abortion services in 1973. He acknowledged abortion was as socially divisive as slavery or prohibition but said the issue was about giving women a choice when dealing with technology that can diagnose severe fetal abnormalities before a baby is born.

“Dr. Tiller’s murder will send a chill down the spines of the brave and courageous providers and other professionals who are part of reproductive-health centers that serve women across this country. We want them to know that they have our support as they move forward in providing these essential services in the aftermath of the shocking news from Wichita,” Keenan said.

Redeemedhippie>>[I tell you what ought to be sending a chill down your spine; the fact that this wicked murderer is probably right now burning in hell. REPENT from your wickedness.]

After the 1991 protests, Tiller kept mostly to his heavily guarded clinic, although in 1997 he opened it to three tours by state lawmakers and the media. He wore a button that read “Trust Women.”

RedeemedHippie>>>[Too bad he didn’t wear one that said, Trust Jesus.]

The clinic is fortified with bulletproof glass, and Tiller hired a private security team to protect the facility. Once outside the clinic, Tiller was routinely accompanied by a bodyguard.

At a recent trial, he told jurors that he and his family have suffered years of harassment and threats and that he knew he was a target of anti-abortion protesters.

Federal marshals protected Tiller during the 1991 Summer of Mercy protests, and he was protected again between 1994 and 1998 after another abortion provider was assassinated and federal authorities reported finding Tiller’s name on an assassination list.

Tiller remained prominent in the news, in part because of an investigation begun by former Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline, an abortion opponent.

Prosecutors had alleged that Tiller had gotten second opinions from a doctor who was essentially an employee of his, not independent as state law requires. A jury in March acquitted Tiller of all 19 misdemeanor counts.

“I am stunned by this lawless and violent act, which must be condemned and should be met with the full force of law,” Kline said in a statement. “We join in lifting prayer that God’s grace and presence rest with Dr. Tiller’s family and friends.”

RedeemedHippie>>>[May the will of God be done in every area. May those within the abortion industry see it for what it is. May hundreds and thousands of doctors and nurses come out of it. Not from fear of being shot, but from fear of a holy God who calls it murder what they do. May they be convicted of their evil doings and cry out for forgiveness, less they end up in hellfire. May God deal with the shooter in the way that needs to be dealt with. He too is a murderer and needs to repent in his heart for his crime.]

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While abortion is 100% wrong, that in no way justifies this senseless murder. I wonder if Jesus would have shot this guy? Don’t think so. Jesus would have shown him grace and told him to go and sin no more. Taking vengeance into our own hands will never bring good results.

James Downing, I agree with you; Jesus would not have shot the guy, but He sure would have called it like it was and he never would have pussy foot around it for the sake of “peace.” The man Tiller–the baby killer was a wicked and ungodly man. Would he have gone and sinned no more if Jesus had told him? I doubt it very much.

I would never suggest his murder did anything good for our cause. As far as mothers who partnered with him, only God knows how many babies will be saved. God causes everything to work together for good for those who love Him and who are called by Him. Only God knows how many women, doctors and nurses will change their minds about the evil they commit. And like I said, Tiller is one man that will not be able to continue to butcher tens of thousands of babies. His death was a small price to pay for “our cause” compared to the thousands he has murdered.

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